THE Nigerian Seafarers Welfare Board has said that a conspiracy by an international shipping cartel has ensured that surcharges are levied on Nigerian bound cargoes due to additional private security arrangements required in the Nigerian maritime environment.

In the bid to completely shut the doors of the nation’s port against unscrupulous importers of Tramadol and other restricted drugs into the country, the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has stepped up its offensive against the unauthorized importation, distribution, sales and use of this category of medicines, as the Service has resorted to also picking up the classified items in bits and pieces, and other various ingenuous means of concealments.

For the second consecutive quarter in 2018, the global maritime report on piracy has put Nigeria on the spot, occupying number one position in the number of recorded attacks against vessels in the second quarter 2018, Q2’18.

About five years after the completion of the 3,000 capacity trailer park opposite the second gate of Tin-can Island port, Apapa, Lagos, the park cannot be put to use due to lack of sea shore protection line which was not included in the original contract.

THE National Inland Water ways Authority (NIWA) has unfolded an inland waterways transportation master-plan capable of effectively jump-starting the much needed multi-modal transportation system in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC, has said it will deploy the Truck Transit Parks, TTP, project with Electronic Call-Up System, ECUPS, to end the endemic traffic gridlock which has locked down Lagos in the last few weeks.

The Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Akwa Ibom State, which has the mandate to train and produce middle level manpower for the maritime industry, had, for obvious reasons, veered off track for more than a decade.

The Anambra State government has entered into partnership with a South African company, Arup, to construct a 14,000 Twenty Equivalent Unit, TEUs capacity Inland Container Depot to be located at Ozubulu.

Stakeholders of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Clearing Agents, ANLCA, have affirmed their confidence in and pledged their loyalty to Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha as Chairman of the Association’s Board of Trustees, BOT.

The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Agency, NESREA, have supervised the repatriation of four container loads of e-waste shipped into the country in the last one year.

The Customs Area Controller (CAC), Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, CAC, Jane Shoboiki, has declared that the inability and failure of Customs agents to adhere strictly to cargo clearance procedures is responsible for delay in trade facilitation.

Stakeholders in the maritime industry have said that planned reconstruction of the failed roads in the port vicinities of Apapa and its environ is not the solution to the chaotic traffic situation in the area.